


it's a light and tumble journey

by anax imperator (anax)



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist (Anime 2003), Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types
Genre: Crack, Don't think too hard about it, M/M, Zoofic, i have no explanation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-19
Updated: 2018-06-19
Packaged: 2019-05-25 17:26:52
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 5
Words: 21,446
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14981996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anax/pseuds/anax%20imperator
Summary: What if our favorite characters were animals?  This is what we used to call "zoofic."Edward finds life in the zoo boring, until the zookeepers switch things up for him.Nothing but crack here.





	1. part i

"This sucks." Despite the annoyance in both words and tone, Edward leaned back and made himself comfortable on the decorative rock in the enclosure. The sun had warmed the stone, and the heat felt good soaking into his back through his coat. The warm stone let off a dusty smell, a peaceful smell.

"Quit complaining," came his brother's voice from under the stone. There was a kind of den in there, a completely artificial cave formed via the arrangement of rocks that supported the huge slab upon which Edward lounged. One of the walls of the den was glass, so their keepers could observe them, but the room behind the glass was dark and Edward could never tell when someone was actually in there. He'd stopped caring after a few days, and Alphonse had never seemed to care.

"I'm bored, though." Edward rolled around onto his belly, to warm it up on the stone. He bared his teeth at a small family that had paused outside the enclosure fence to watch him. "This is _dull._ I want to hunt something."

"You're always wanting to hunt something," came Alphonse's voice out of the den.

"Because I'm always _bored._ Dammit, why did I have to be so damned curious about that book? They knew I wanted it, that's why they used it as bait."

Alphonse did not reply, perhaps because there was nothing tactful to say. This whole captured-and-put-into-a-zoo business really _was_ all Edward's fault and both of them knew it, but Alphonse was too nice to say it out loud.

There was silence between them for a long time. Edward passively glared at the humans who came to look at them, but saved his special snarls for the ones who complained about not being able to see Alphonse. While Edward didn't mind being gawked at (too much), his brother was more retiring and only occasionally came out of the den during the day. As long as Alphonse was content, Edward could deal. Mostly.

All in all, it could have been worse. Their enclosure was fairly big, with a small pond for drinking and swimming, lots of shade and lots of sun to choose from, and of course the all-important den where Alphonse could conceal himself. If their keepers would just bother to feed Edward some books, he could have been content as well, but they only fed him vegetables and dead rabbits. That was fine for his belly but did nothing for his boredom.

He lazily watched the humans as they came and went, most of them coming to their enclosure from the tiger exhibit across the path. The pair of tigers were being just as lazy as Edward, sleeping in the shade in much the same way he was laying in the sun. Yes, all in all this wasn't as bad as, say, last winter, when he and Alphonse had still been in the wild and it had been difficult to keep them both warm and fed. Their keepers fed them regularly here, and although it had taken Edward a few weeks to figure it out, there were no predators either. The deep trench and high fence that kept him and his brother inside also kept enemies out, so that he felt safe enough to doze in the sun in full view without worrying about something pouncing him.

Sometimes, he could actually feel the edge of alertness that had kept him alive in the wild dulling by the day, but couldn't bring himself to care much. Not when his belly was full and there was nothing to do but nap in the sun all afternoon while curious humans looked him over.

The sounds of a group of children approaching the fence made him lazily open his eyes to look at them. There were a lot of them, more than Edward could count, shepherded by three adult humans. He rolled onto his back and pulled up his shirt to scratch his belly while they crowded up to the fence, pointing and jabbering at each other.

Edward liked human children. They were fascinating for some reason ... not quite small enough to be prey, but not as big and threatening as the adults. He watched them cling to the fence for a few minutes, while the adult humans spoke to them, and then rolled down off his rock, overcome by curiosity.

The excitement of the children grew as Edward approached the trench that kept him from touching the fence, and sat down on the sandy verge next to the concrete slope. He grinned at them.

"Hi," he said.

"Which Elric is this?" asked one of the adults.

"Edward!" chorused the children.

"I want to see Alphonse!" demanded one of them.

"Not a lot of chance of that," said Edward. The humans ignored him, as they always did. He hopped back up to his feet and spun around in place, to the children's apparent delight. Their laughter was pleasant, and with the fence protecting him from the adult humans Edward felt safe enough to play with them a little, extending his arm toward the fence as far as he could without falling into the trench; the children reciprocated, but their fingers never quite touched. It was disappointing when the adults started to herd the children away from the fence, and on to other parts of the zoo. He waved forlornly at them, and a few of them waved back.

"This is boring," he declared again, as he trudged back to the rock.

"Nii-san," said Alphonse, his tone exasperated. "Stop complaining about how you're bored. It's making _me_ bored. Come under here with me if you're so bored."

"But there's nothing to do!"

"I'll give you something to do. Come in here." Something rustled under the rock.

Edward perked a little at the sound. "Will you?"

"Yes. Just get in here."

He dropped down to his hands and knees and crawled into the den. The hollowed-out space faced another wall of stone holding up the big rock, and wasn't really visible to the humans at the fence. But it was roomy enough inside and there was plenty of reflected light. Alphonse was taking off the last of his pelt and kicking it aside in the stone hollow where they slept; then he stretched out, and gave Edward a hungry look. His cock was already hard and ready for mating.

It was cooler under the rock than it had been on top of it, but Edward suddenly felt extremely warm. He began to slither out of his own pelt, but was suddenly pushed onto his back when Alphonse pounced him; his head hit the stone hard, but his complaints about this were immediately silenced by a deep kiss. He'd mated with worse pain than that anyway, so he surrendered to his brother's assault without a fight.

Alphonse deftly helped Edward get his pelt off while they kissed, and then rolled Edward onto his belly without very much courtship at all. Perhaps Alphonse had been bored as well ... the thought made Edward grin as his brother nipped his back and groped for the oil that their keepers left in the den for them.

"You're eager," observed Alphonse, as he slid two slick fingers into Edward, culminating their courtship ritual almost before it had started.

"I'm bored. I keep telling you that."

"Yeah, you do. Now be quiet about it."

"I will when you-- aaack!" Edward yelped when his brother yanked his hips up, forcing him to kneel, and then abruptly penetrated him with no warning at all.

With the sensation of being mated, the instinct to purr became overwhelming, and Edward settled down with his knees widely spread and his rear raised. The urge to complain about his boredom, or anything else, retreated before the pleasure of mating, and Edward purred lustily to encourage his brother. Alphonse's fingers gripped his hips tightly.

"You like that?" Alphonse murmured.

"Yessssss," said Edward, and yelped again as Alphonse thrust into him harder; the purring from his throat became harder as well to match. He rocked back and forth, encouraging more, and writhed when he felt Alphonse's hand grope for his cock. "Yes, yes, that, yes ..."

He came hard, and panted with his forehead on the stone while Alphonse continued to mate him for several more minutes. When his brother came as well, he allowed Edward to relax down on the stone. A moment later, Alphonse's fingers began to stroke his skin and comb through his hair.

"Let's sleep for a little while."

Edward, too tired to reply, just murmured.

* * *

Edward didn't come out of the den until after dusk. He woke to some kind of commotion out in the enclosure, and rolled instinctively over onto his belly to find that his brother was already alert as well.

"What's going on?" asked Alphonse, squirming in the small, now-dark den to get his pants on.

"I don't know," said Edward. "I'll find out."

He got back into his own pelt and crawled cautiously out of the den. It was past feeding time, but all thoughts of hunger were banished by the ruckus of humans near the door in the back of the enclosure. One human stood right in the doorway, and had a long stick; this one stared fixedly at Edward.

"There's Edward," said the human, and several of the other humans glanced Edward's way.

"Keep an eye on him," said another. "Don't let him get too close to the door."

Edward eased out from under the rock, but didn't move away from it. His hackles were raised, and he hunched over defensively. Whatever the humans were doing, he didn't much like it; several of them were going in and out of the door, bringing large pieces of wood into the enclosure and then fussing with them off to one side.

"What are they doing?" asked Alphonse, still within the den.

"I don't know," said Edward. "Making something. They're bringing it in a piece at a time."

He heard his brother scuffling. The human in the doorway announced, "Alphonse is coming out now."

Alphonse did not, however, come completely out of the den. He held onto Edward's calf and they both watched cautiously while the humans erected something out of the pieces next to the door. It began looking like a large box, but more pieces were brought that disguised its shape, making it look more like an irregular stone. Some holes were dug around it, and long vines planted in the holes and draped over the thing, to further obscure it.

It all took a long time, and it grew fully dark before they finished. Artificial lights were brought out, and Edward began to snarl when they were lit. After the vines were placed, the humans stood around and wiped their foreheads, and then began to eye him.

He tensed.

"Okay, this is the hard part then," said one of the humans, taking out a long pole with a noose on the end. "If he gets back into the den, I'll crawl in after him and pull him out. Be careful of Alphonse."

"I thought Alphonses were gentle," said another human.

"They are, but when they're cornered, or if they think their Edward is being injured, they will sometimes attack. Mary, you go that way. Jack, you take the right. Try not to back him against the trench, we don't want him falling in it."

Edward braced himself for a fight. His brother made a low growling sound as the humans approached and Edward felt his brother releasing his leg. They came closer ... and closer ... slowly enough, but eventually he couldn't take it and lunged toward the nearest. The human leaped back to avoid the strike, and Edward turned to attack another, who came up behind him at the same time.

"Whoa. He's quick."

"Careful there, Jack. He's got a nasty bite."

"Watch out ... watch out ... Alphonse ..."

Edward whirled when his brother squealed. "Nii-san!" screamed Alphonse; a human had him by the ankle and was dragging him out from under the rock. Without thinking, Edward ran to leap on the human; he was pulled up short by something going around his throat from behind.

He squawked as he went down on his back on the ground, under the harsh artificial lights, and thrashed while the other humans released Alphonse and converged on him. "Al!" he called, his voice hoarse from the noose around his throat; he clawed at it with his fingers. "Al!" He could hear a scuffle from near the den, and his brother calling, "Nii-san!" but his brother, for some reason, was unable to come help him.

"Hold him down," said one of the humans.

"Be careful, don't hurt him."

The weight of two humans came down on him, pinning him to the ground, and Edward's struggles became more violent and panicked as he was restrained. "Al!" he called, over and over, but although Alphonse responded and did not sound very far away, the humans were holding him off somehow and keeping him from coming to Edward's aid. The humans forced Edward's wrists together, and held him to the ground by his wrists over his head, and another human's weight on his legs.

"Good, good," said one. "Just hold him down for a moment until he calms down." A hand stroked through Edward's hair as he whimpered, and his struggles tapered off. "There's a good boy. Easy now. You're okay. You're okay."

Edward stared up at the human and panted in his fear. Held down, trapped and held down and _restrained_ and he suddenly exploded into terrified flailing. The humans held him and spoke to him in soothing tones, and eventually he stopped struggling again. What were they doing? Why weren't they killing him? He didn't understand it.

After a few minutes, one of the humans said, "Start getting his pelt off. Gently now! Be careful, don't let him kick."

"Nii-san," said Alphonse from somewhere near the den. And to think he came out of his den voluntarily! "What are they doing?"

"I don't know!" said Edward. He was rolled over onto his belly, and he started to thrash again as the humans tried to peel his coat off of him. Once it was off, they held him down again and stroked his hair until he lay still again in exhaustion.

He didn't fight so hard when his shirt was taken off, but when they started to strip him of his pants he had to try to resist it again. To no avail ... although they weren't hurting him, they had some kind of definite purpose with him and no amount of thrashing would deter them, nor would any amount of snarling make them let him go.

"He's such a beautiful animal," said one of the humans as they pinned him again. He squirmed, not liking having his pelt off. "Why don't we just sedate him a little?"

"It isn't that easy," said another. "Tranquilizers are trickier to use than television would make you believe. We have to have a vet supervising if we're going to sedate any animal. Besides which, he needs to get used to being handled. Elrics are pretty smart beasts. Once he figures out that he isn't being hurt, he'll settle down and won't fight it this much."

"Nii-san," called Alphonse, sounding like he was about to start crying.

"I'm okay," called Edward back. "I don't know what they're doing, though." One of the humans was stroking his hair; other hands held him firmly to the ground. He could smell nothing but the overpowering smell of humans, and he was starting to feel cold without his pelt.

"Let's put him in," said one of the humans, and abruptly they all lifted Edward off the ground. He struggled again, but they were too many and too strong, and they dragged him toward the box that they'd just built against the side of the enclosure.

"Al!" he yelled, terrified, but as before, Alphonse was unable to do more than call back to him.

The top of the long box opened up, and Edward was forced down inside. There were chains on one end, and his wrists were locked to the wall there, then his legs dragged down and somehow bound to the sides. He yanked against the restraints and voiced his displeasure and fear freely, squirming inside the box in an attempt to escape. This was not pleasant at all! He was stripped and bound and helpless and humans kept touching him and ...

"Here, is that wet? Give me that."

Edward yelped wildly as one of the humans touched him between the legs, and he tried to lunge forward out of the box; with his legs bound, however, he couldn't go far. Then something was slipping inside him, where nothing should touch him but his brother's cock, and he wailed in distress. Where was Alphonse? Although his instinct was to protect Alphonse from whatever these humans were doing, he knew that Alphonse would help him in return.

Abruptly, his wailing stopped and so did his struggling, as his attention zeroed in on the thing that had been inserted into him. It was quivering now, a peculiar sensation that he wasn't sure at first that he liked ... and then he was positive that he _did._ He squirmed a little, and then flexed his back to get more of that inside him.

"Nii-san!" called Alphonse, fear in his voice.

"Yeah," said Edward, distracted. "I'm still okay. Wow, that feels good."

The humans chuckled a little as he writhed, and pushed back against the object. "He likes it," said one.

"Of course he does," said another.

Edward began to purr as the object was moved in and out of him. It felt just like when Alphonse mated him, only different, and more intense. Not necessarily better, because he couldn't feel his brother's body atop his, or smell anything but the fresh wood and straw scent of this box, but the feeling was drawing a deep purr out of his throat and replacing confused fear with warm pleasure. He started thrusting his hips, rocking back and forth on the object while the humans talked among themselves. He paid no attention.

Abruptly, the thing was removed, and Edward mewled. He tugged on his wrists and looked up at the humans, wondering what was going to happen to him now. They stood up and began to close the box in on top of him.

"What the hell ...?" he said, squirming in the chains. He couldn't get free ... and he was _horny_ now, still thrusting helplessly with his hips although nothing was touching him. "Dammit. What the hell was that for?"

After a little more clattering around the top of the box, Edward was locked in darkness. He squirmed uncomfortably ... this had gone from decidedly unpleasant, to quite pleasant indeed, and now it was back to unpleasant again. He wanted to crawl out of this box that reeked of freshly-cut wood and back into his den, have Alphonse groom his hair and body and mate him (oh yes, mate him _now)_ but the damned chains held him fast.

And, he abruptly realized, he couldn't even touch himself! He hunched up his back as much as he could, but couldn't bring his cock forward far enough for his bound hands to touch it, nor could he squirm down enough to rub against the floor. Maddening! He was stretched out in a mating position, almost, but all he could do was want and want and receive nothing.

"Al!" he called. Maybe the humans had gone away. If he couldn't get back to the den to mate, maybe he could get his brother to come here. "Al!"

"Nii-san?" Distant at first, but then there was a scrabbling sound at the rear of the box; Edward turned his head as far over his shoulder as he could but couldn't really see back there.

"Al, is that you?"

"Yes. Nii-san!" A heavy warm body threw itself over Edward's back, and Alphonse kissed him eagerly. "I was worried! What did they do to you?"

"Nothing bad," said Edward. "Just chained me in this box." He tugged at his wrists. "And made me want to mate."

"Why?" Alphonse was still kissing him, and touching him all over. "You smell like you want to mate."  
"I _do!"_ Edward whined and squirmed.

Alphonse sounded a little doubtful. "We just mated this afternoon though."

"I want to again." He was practically already inviting his brother to mate with him, with the way his legs were spread and his rear raised in the air, but he wiggled back and forth under Alphonse anyway. His brother was still in his pelt; he could feel the fabric against his bare skin. "Come on, mate me."

A hand stroked over Edward's hip, down his thigh, and then up again to toy with his cock. Edward moaned and thrust into his brother's hand, but the touch was more of an idle caress than a serious attempt to get him off. "I don't know," said Alphonse, sounding doubtful.

"Al!" Edward writhed. "Please, come on! This isn't fair!" Another teasingly irregular caress, and Edward moaned.

"I don't really feel like it. I was worried about you, after they came and took you. But you're safe now, and I'm getting tired. Maybe we can mate in the morning. Let's go back to sleep."

Alphonse crawled off of Edward's back, and Edward tugged frantically at his wrists. Alphonse was going to leave! Leave him helplessly bound and horny as hell until _the next morning?_ Edward wasn't sure he could survive that long! "Al ..." he said, and tugged at his wrists again.

"I'm going back to the den, Nii-san."

Damn those humans! Edward began to whine, and leaned forward to try to grab the chains around his wrists in his teeth. He didn't understand half of what they did, and he didn't understand _this_ at all. "Al!" he called, as his brother started to crawl backwards out of the box. "Al, you can't leave me like this!"

Suddenly, Alphonse laughed and pounced onto his back again, licking up his spine. "Of course I wouldn't leave you like this!"

Edward began purring again immediately, intensely relieved. "You're so cruel," he said, but the assessment lost some of its bite, coming as it did between throaty purrs.

His brother's hands moved over him, feeling his body in the cramped box; Edward couldn't see anything, and apparently Alphonse couldn't either. Hands encountered the restraints on his legs, and then patted up his flanks, over his shoulders, and finally located the chains at his wrists as well when Alphonse draped fully over Edward's back. "You're pretty well stuck, aren't you?" Alphonse mused.

"Yes." Edward twisted his wrists helplessly. "And I really want to mate. They did something to me and it felt really good."

"Wow." A lower note entered Alphonse's voice as he said, "You know, with you chained like this, I could mate you a couple of times, and you couldn't kick me away."

A tickle of nervousness crept up Edward's spine and killed the purr, and he said hastily, "No ... no, just once is enough."

"I don't know about that. I could mate you over and over all night." Alphonse was still groping around, and something rattled at the side of the box. "Oooh, the humans left us oil."

"Uh, Al ..." Edward squirmed, but he was at his brother's mercy, dammit, and he could never tell when Alphonse was kidding and when he was serious about things like this. Alphonse had slept most of the day, and would be fully capable of mating Edward several times in a row, if he were so inclined. "Al, we don't know when the humans might come back."

"Mmmm." Alphonse was rubbing his cheek against Edward's shoulder. "I don't care about them anyway."

Fingers groped between Edward's legs, and the combination of his helplessness and the delicious certainty that he was going to be mated soon brought the purr back to his throat; instinct demanded that he communicate that he was no threat, and show his willingness to submit, in order to placate the dominant Elric. He wished his wrists were free, and he pulled on the restraints while his brother rubbed him with the cool oil. He hated being confined.

The more he was intimately touched, the more he wanted to mate, so he deepened his purr and arched his back submissively. There wasn't anything else he could do, after all ... he was bound in this subordinate mating position that left him with few options, even if he were inclined to try to take the more dominant role. Alphonse responded aggressively to his enforced submission, mounting him without any more courtship than the application of the oil and the removal of his own pelt, and Edward's purr became louder as his brother's cock filled him.

"Yes," he groaned, and lowered his chest a bit. This box was cramped, but the restrictions all worked against him; Alphonse seemed to have plenty of room to mate him. "Oh, that's good, _yes."_ He gave up words in favor of deep, purring moans as his brother's cock raked every pleasurable nerve inside him. Alphonse echoed his purrs with loud growls, reasserting his dominance simply because Edward had no choice but to accept it.

It wasn't until Alphonse gave a particularly loud growl that Edward realized that his brother wasn't stroking his cock to make him come, too. "Al," he said, and squirmed. His skin was hot, his hair sticking to his back and shoulders, and his cock ached with need.

"No," said Alphonse, sliding out of Edward and off of him, sitting heavily on the floor of the box behind him. "I'm going to mate you all night like I said I would. Since you're stuck like this, I might as well."

"Hey!" said Edward, outrage fighting with the submissive purr that this unfair, totally unfair declaration pulled out of him. If his hands were free, he'd just stroke _himself_ until he came, and then kick his brother away when the cruel bastard came sniffing around wanting to mate again. But he could neither touch his own cock nor escape Alphonse's lust, not chained like this so that he was forced to hold a mating position. Instinct kept the purr in his voice, loud and desperate for mercy as he said, "You can't do that! Don't do this to me!"

Both amusement and sleepiness colored Alphonse's voice as the other Elric moved around behind Edward in the darkness. "You still smell like you want to mate," he said. "If you give me a little while, I'll mate you again."

"No!" Edward thrashed violently, but the only motion permitted him was a back-and-forth rocking; his legs were more or less immobile, holding his knees down, and his wrists were tightly fixed to the wall in front of him. His struggling ceased as soon as Alphonse touched him again, sliding two fingers inside him. Good, that felt so good, more ... "Oh, yes ... yes, Al, more ..." He rested his face against his forearms and writhed, inviting his brother to mate him again.

The fingers moved slowly in and out of him, slick with oil and Alphonse's semen. "I want to keep smelling you like this," said Alphonse. "It drives me crazy when you have this mating smell." More sounds, as Alphonse squirmed around, and began to kiss the inside of Edward's thigh, while still fondling him from behind.

The slight tickle of Alphonse's hair against the tip of his cock sent Edward into a spasm of convulsive thrusting. "Stop this," he begged, unable to stop purring, unable to close his legs or lower his rump, or do _anything_ but react to what his brother chose to do to him. Why would the humans do this to him? They were so inexplicable! He yelped when Alphonse started to use his tongue on the inside of Edward's leg. "Quit it! Just mate me!"

"I will," murmured Alphonse, licking Edward's leg. "You're always so eager to just mate recently. We never get to court the way we used to."

"This isn't courting, Al!" Edward squirmed and bucked; he'd mate with his brother's hair if he had to ... if he could connect with it anyway. Purring in frustration, he yanked hard on his wrists. Alphonse responded by pushing his fingers more deeply into Edward, and stroking them in and out in a smooth motion, like mating; the sensation silenced Edward's struggles, and changed his complaints into plaintive yowls. "More," he whined, too lost in the desire to mate to remember what he was saying. "Mate me, Al. Please!"

"Mmm." Alphonse sat up behind him, and seemed to consider it. Edward squirmed hopefully, and the answer he received was his brother pulling out his fingers and sitting up on his knees to mount again.

"I want to mate you until morning," said Alphonse, as he penetrated Edward again.

Edward was not too far gone to howl.


	2. part ii

The humans finally released him after what felt like forever. The enclosure was pale gray with early morning when they opened the top of the box, chasing Alphonse away from him. He yowled and tugged on his wrists, until he was grabbed by the arms and pulled forward to put some slack on the chains so they could be removed from his wrists. As soon as his legs were free as well he leaped out of the box and ran as far away from the humans as he could without falling into the trench. He masturbated frantically for about five seconds, and then collapsed on the grass as he came. The humans were still fussing over by the box, but he didn't even care about them anymore. Despite the mating horror of the past several hours, the humans themselves had not really hurt him.

"Fuck," he breathed. He ached all over, but the swimming, floating feeling of orgasm made the ache bearable. He raised his face from the grass, however, so that he could growl, "I am going to completely and utterly kill you, Al."

"No, you won't," said Alphonse, but he stayed where he was in the den. The humans continued clattering around for several minutes, and it wasn't until they had finished with whatever they were doing and let themselves out of the enclosure before Alphonse began to creep out from under the rock.

"If you so much as touch me, I'm going to bite your hand off," Edward warned. He rolled onto his back; the air was cool, but he'd been tormented so much by his brother that all he wanted to do was come over and over. The grass stuck to the dried sweat on his skin as he began to stroke himself once more, cock stiffening under his hand as he closed his eyes. It was still early, and the zoo would not open until well after sunup, which was good because he didn't like to be out of his pelt in front of humans and he was way too horny to get immediately back into it.

"You smell so good, though," said Alphonse, his voice unacceptably close by.

Edward took a swipe at him without opening his eyes, and then arched his back to concentrate on his erection. "Don't touch me," he said, panting in lust as he stroked himself; his hips thrust in time with the strokes down his cock.

From, again, far too nearby, Alphonse said, "But I could ..."

Edward rolled swiftly onto his belly and lunged at his brother, snarling and slashing; Alphonse skipped backward toward the den to avoid the attack, and jumped up on top of the rock. There he began to ostentatiously groom himself.

"You don't have to get violent, Nii-san," said Alphonse, sniffing in disdain.

Dropping to his knees, Edward resumed masturbating. His limbs ached from fighting the restraints, his joints ached from being held in one position for hours and hours, and his rear hurt like _hell_ from the multiple times Alphonse had mated him, but none of those discomforts could match his desire to just come and come. His back arched and his head tilted back as sexual tension snapped through him, and he moaned again as he fell forward and came a second time.

He rolled sideways on the grass and watched drowsily as a human walked purposefully down the path that separated his and his brother's enclosure from the tigers'. There had been a time, not so terribly long ago, when he'd been on the other side of the fence. True, there had been predators to watch out for, and he'd had to hunt down their meals instead of just wait for food to be tossed to them (and his belly rumbled ominously at this thought - he'd never gotten a chance to eat the night before). Sometimes they'd been cold and sometimes hungry, and other Elrics had occasionally wanted to fight with him. But he'd managed to collect a small number of books, and no human had ever tried to strip his pelt off him and chain him up for mating. It hadn't been all bad, out there; he could still remember what freedom had felt like.

There was no way out of this enclosure, though. The sides of the trench were steep concrete and it was deeper than he was tall, and even if he'd somehow been able to reach the fence, the spaces between the bars weren't wide enough to allow him to slip through. The rear of the enclosure was a solid wooden wall; there was a door in it that the humans used, and Edward could have used it as well only he couldn't figure out how it opened.

He wanted out. This past night had reminded him, to a degree that he'd allowed himself to forget, just how thoroughly they were at the mercy of their keepers. There was no escape from here, no escape from whatever the humans felt like doing to them.

It made him feel vulnerable in a way that not even facing an angry Mustang could make him feel.

Another human came up to the fence, and Edward could feel his lips curling into a snarl, and a heave of anger and nervousness rise in his chest, without really knowing why. She leaned on the bars and curled her fingers around them, watching him.

"Poor little guy," she murmured. Edward's attention pricked up a bit ... she was looking at him, and there was no other human around for her to be addressing, so she must be talking to him. They'd sometimes done that in the past, when Edward and Alphonse would sneak onto trains, or slip into cities in search of food. Some humans would talk to them and then give them food, while others just wanted to hurt them. He wondered idly which sort she was, although it hardly made a difference, as there was no way for her to either hurt him or feed him through the fence.

They looked at each other for a little while, but she didn't say anything more and Edward stopped listening for it. He was starting to feel rather uncomfortable, out of his pelt where she could see him, and he began to strongly consider going for a brief swim in the pond to clean up and then finding his pelt again.

Eventually, the human removed her hands from the bars and moved away. Edward stood up, and brushed bits of grass off himself as he walked toward the water.

* * *

On the fifth night in a row that the humans came to tether him in the box for mating, Edward simply gave up. He'd stopped really fighting them after the second night, exhausted by too much nocturnal mating and insufficient sleep during the day (he never slept well during the day), and because he'd realized that they didn't intend to hurt him. He continued to attempt to evade capture, however, for two more nights after that ... he knew it was pointless, as the enclosure was simply not big enough for him to be able to keep out of their hands, but he also knew what was in store for him if they caught him.

That fifth night, however, as the three humans spread out to surround him, he hunkered down near the base of den rock and just whined as they closed in on him. What was the use in trying to run away? There was nowhere to go, and they'd just use the noose on him trying to catch him. It wasn't as if they were going to kill him, either ... just tie him down for his cruel brother's use.

Alphonse watched silently from under the rock as the humans picked Edward up and started to take his pelt off; Edward turned to glare, but Alphonse just gave him a blankly curious look back.

"This is all your fault," Edward told him.

"How is it my fault?"

"If you wouldn't mate me all freakin' night the way they obviously want you to, they wouldn't keep doing this!"

Alphonse rolled onto his side and scratched at his belly. "You don't know that. You're just speculating. And anyway, I can't help it. You smell so good, and you can't make me stop. You don't know how much it makes me want to mate you when you can't make me stop."

"I think I can guess!"

Something different happened this time, however. Once Edward's pelt was off, one of the humans pulled out another pelt from inside a bag ... it wasn't a whole pelt, just the red outer layer. The scent of a strange Elric came to him as soon as the pelt was taken out; he wrinkled his nose.

"Hold him carefully, now," said one of the humans. "He isn't going to like this."

The stranger-smell became overpowering as the pelt was forced onto him. Edward, who had not been too inclined to struggle before, yanked backward as the pelt was brought close to him, and then forward as it was pushed up his arms and around his shoulders. The humans held him tightly, and would not release him to let him hunt down the interloper. He snarled and growled and threatened, not so much at the humans as at the Edward he couldn't see but whose _smell_ was all around him; the human hands kept a firm grip on him, however, and as usual forced him into the mating box.

The stranger-smell was, if anything, even more inescapable inside the box. It took them several minutes to get him bound this time, as it occurred to him early that if he was helpless when this stranger Edward appeared, he would be unable to defend himself, his brother, or his territory. There was no telling what might happen if the stranger found him this way, submissively spread for mating instead of aggressively prepared to fight, and the urgency of _not_ being caught like that gave him the stamina to resist the humans for quite some time.

When he was finally tied down, he bared his teeth and glared balefully at the treacherous humans as he pulled against the restraints. They _wanted_ him helpless. He was sure of it.

One of them tugged on the pelt they'd put onto him, pulling it up to his waist to bare his legs and rear. He howled in protest as he was touched ... even less than he wanted to be bound for mating when the stranger Edward appeared, he _definitely_ didn't want to be bound for mating _and_ squirming with arousal and ready to beg for relief. There was, as always, no escape ... the now-familiar feeling of the object sliding into him stilled his struggles, and when it started to quiver he stretched his back in pleasure. His moan, however, was still half-howl, because even though it felt just as good as it always did, he didn't _want_ it to feel good.

"Just leave it in him," said one of the humans. "Push it in up to that notch, and leave it there while we move him."

The object was nudged deeper into him, and then it stopped its mating motion, although the quivering continued. One of the humans ruffled his hair, and then the top of the box was closed! Closed, and he still had that thing inside him, making him want to mate.

It didn't feel quite as good as actually being mated, but it was insidious and relentless. He squirmed, thrusting instinctively, although he knew already that the way he was bound precluded him from getting himself off in any way - the setup was designed to induce him to want to mate, not masturbate, and so he was rendered dependent on Alphonse to achieve orgasm. Not that his bastard brother ever bothered to actually make him come ...

Abruptly the box he was in lurched, and there was a tremendous noise outside it. Edward tugged on his chains, frightened now as well as angry and aroused, _so damned aroused._ He called for his brother, but Alphonse did not appear. He wanted to listen to what was happening outside the box, and get some kind of a clue of what was happening, but he could hear nothing definite, and the quivering thing inside him was _distracting._ He'd never been tormented with it for quite this long before ... his cock ached, and his skin was starting to tingle.

Humans spoke to each other outside the box, and then there was another lurch, and an indefinable sense of _motion_. Edward yowled unhappily, and pulled on the restraints that kept him defenseless and prepared for mating ... what was going on? What was happening? Alphonse didn't answer his calls, either by physically showing up or by calling his name ... where was Alphonse? The smell of his own readiness to mate was powerful now, as the quivering inside him was a continual, inescapable stimulation that made fluid drip off the tip of his cock ... the scent mixed with the smell of the stranger.

The _motion_ continued for far, far too long, while Edward squirmed in helpless arousal, and finally the box lurched again and went still. He silenced himself and listened, twisting in the restraints because he was too aroused to stay still.

The top of the box abruptly opened, and he peered up into the sudden light, blinking at the humans who bent over the box. He tugged and twisted his wrists hopefully, but they made no motion to release him.

"Wow, he's really ready," said one. The human touched his rump and moved the thing inside him a moment before removing it.

"Yeah. Okay, this is it. Let's cross our fingers."

The top was closed again, leaving Edward in darkness once more.

He heard the humans move away, and silence descended, broken only by the sound of the restraints as he squirmed. When he hadn't heard anything for several heartbeats, Edward called, "Al?"

Stupid humans ... stupid brother, who wouldn't take care of his erection for him anyway, and stupid need to mate that made him call for Alphonse despite knowing this. "Al!" he called again.

"Nii-san?" came the reply, softer than he would have expected.

"Yeah," he said, and he couldn't help putting a submissive purring note into his voice. It was being so aroused, and tied down like this, that made him do it.

Alphonse took his sweet time ... the day before he'd been inside the box and mating Edward the moment the humans disappeared. Whatever all that noise and _motion_ was about must have put Alphonse off his stride. "Al?" called Edward again.

From just outside the back of the box, Alphonse's voice came again. "Nii-san?" he asked.

"Yes. Come _on,_ Al, this is killing me." He wriggled, in what would have been invitation if there had been sufficient light for Alphonse to see it.

"Is that ... really you?"

"Of course it's me," said Edward, annoyed by the delay. "Who else would it be?" But wait ... his own nose was getting used to it, but he had to remember the stranger-smell that was all around him. The stranger Edward had not shown himself yet, and in fact, the smell seemed kind of sickly ... as if the stranger Edward were ill. Probably no threat then, even if he _did_ turn up, but Alphonse might be confused by the scent itself. "I know what it smells like," he said. "It's me, though. Come mate me."

The sound of Alphonse entering the box made him moan with anticipation, but his brother did not start to mate him. "Nii-san?" asked Alphonse again, and then abruptly Alphonse crowded up against him, draping across his back and clutching him tightly. "Nii-san! Nii-san!"

What the ... was Alphonse _crying?_ Another disturbing stranger-smell reached Edward's nostrils then ... mixed in with his brother's familiar nest-scent was the smell of another stranger Elric. What the hell was going on here? "Al ..." he said, and tugged on his wrists. "What's the matter?"

"Nii-san," sobbed Alphonse, his arms around Edward's waist and rubbing his face into the pelt on Edward's back. "I missed you so much, Nii-san ..."

"Hey," said Edward, aroused, bristling with the pervasive stranger-smells, confused _and_ concerned, all at once. "Hey, what's the matter?"

"I missed you, I missed you!" More sobbing, more rubbing into Edward's pelt. Alphonse's arms around him were strong, almost painfully so. "What happened to you?"

"I'm right here, you dork." Edward squirmed. "I don't know what happened. The humans were doing something. It's probably their fault. Anyway, hurry up and mate me." He squirmed invitingly. He could smell a stranger Edward _and_ a stranger Alphonse now, but neither scent was enough to override his powerful desire to mate, not when he was forced to hold this subordinate mating position anyway.

"You want ..." Alphonse sat up a little. "Why do you smell like you want to mate? And you smell ... strange."

"I smell it, too," said Edward. "I don't know what it is. It isn't me."

His brother's arms slowly released him, and then hands moved down his legs. Fingers gently patted the restraints around his knees and ankles. "You're tied down," Alphonse observed.

"Yes, of _course_ I am!" Edward yanked on his wrists. "And I want to mate, so _please!"_

Exploring hands went between his legs, and Edward began purring in encouragement. But instead of using the oil that the humans left on him, Alphonse instead groped his testicles, and touched the hardness of his cock. Edward writhed and thrust into that willing hand until it left him. Dammit, he was so _horny ..._

The scent of the stranger Alphonse was getting stronger, but that didn't evoke the same kind of reaction that the stranger Edward scent did, as Edward didn't have nearly as much to fear from another Alphonse. And anyway, his brother was still hesitantly exploring his body, hands sliding up his chest under the pelt as warm weight settled onto his back.

"I missed you," said Alphonse again, softly.

"I wasn't gone that long," said Edward, panting with desire.

"I was afraid you'd died."

"Died?" The strength of Edward's purr deepened, to reassure Alphonse as well as to convey his submission and willingness. "I'm not going to die. The humans are just doing their thing like they always do. Are you going to mate me or not? Come on!"

"... okay." The hesitation was still in Alphonse's voice. "Is there oil?"

Edward turned his head over his shoulder, even though he naturally could see nothing. "It isn't next to my foot?"

There was a little groping around, and Edward squirmed. The inside of the box was warm, and he'd never been in here with his pelt on before; even the one layer was making him a bit _too_ warm. After a moment, Alphonse found the oil.

It was only Edward's demands to be mated that made Alphonse actually use the oil on him, though. His brother began to touch him on his back and hips, and rub his face into Edward's pelt to inhale the scent through it, as if wanting to do an entire courtship. Edward didn't have the patience for that.

And, even when Alphonse was finally induced to mount him, the thrusts were so slow and deliberate. Edward, helpless to do anything but purr and groan in pleasure, did not bother to wonder why the change.

When Alphonse actually reached under him, however, and _started stroking his cock,_ Edward's mind abruptly blanked out, and not just because of the flush of pleasure. He was still purring when he came, but he stopped shortly thereafter, when Alphonse came as well and rested against his back.

"I missed you so much," whispered Alphonse. His cock was still inside Edward, joining them together even though they were no longer mating.

"I'm right here," said Edward, in confusion. It was getting hard not to start growling. With his arousal relieved, the stranger-scents were taking up more of his attention; as the pleasure of orgasm slowly faded, his hackles were starting to go up.

"I thought you'd died. I thought you'd died." There was a slow motion from Alphonse's hips against Edward's rump, but it didn't feel like mating so much as like Alphonse trying to burrow right into Edward's body.

Defend himself, defend his territory, defend his brother ... the smells were prickling up all of Edward's nerves, and his inability to rise up aggressively was giving him a headache. Alphonse was still half-in his pelt ... Edward could feel it now that he wasn't out of his mind with the desire to mate. Rough sleeves against his bare waist as Alphonse held him ... Alphonse never did that.

All of these strange things suddenly drove Edward crazy, and he reared up as far as he could and gave the chains around his wrists a powerful yank. They didn't yield to that, nor did they yield when he twisted as far to the side as he could and began snapping back on them with all the strength in his arms and shoulders. He had to get loose ... he had to get _free_ and find the familiar, restore things to the way they were supposed to be.

"Nii-san!" said Alphonse, falling back away from Edward, but Edward paid no attention. Everything was wrong ... everything smelled wrong, everything felt wrong, and he was prevented from righting it by these restraints. He had to get _free_ ... he jerked and twisted his body any way he could, snapping his muscles in every direction because there had to be _some way to get loose ..._

The top of the box opened, and Alphonse made a terrified noise as the humans reached down inside. Edward could hear spitting and hissing, and the sounds of his brother's distress only fueled his frantic need to _get free._

Hands touched his wrists, and without thinking Edward lunged forward to sink his teeth into them. A human yelped and the bitten hand twitched back out of reach.

"Yeah, be careful about that," said one of the humans.

"Dammit!"

Another hand closed in the back of Edward's hair, and he tried to twist his head to bite that hand as well, but couldn't. The hold was painfully tight, and he yowled, but it also set off a reflex that made his muscles want to relax. He continued to twist at his wrists, but could no longer find the quivering tension to yank and fight. Behind him, Alphonse stopped fighting as well, and began to whimper.

"At least they mated," said the human who was holding his hair. "It's a start."

"It looked like it was going so well ... what happened?"

"I don't know."

"Should we take Edward back out?"

There was silence among the humans. Edward panted, his exertions catching up to him. "Yeah," said one of the humans eventually. "There's nothing we can do while he's this aggressive. Take Alphonse out so we can move Edward."

"Nii-san!" cried Alphonse, as he was removed from the box. "Nii-san! Nii-san!"

Edward began to struggle again, and the grip on his nape be damned ... Alphonse was _calling for him_ and there was no way he could resist the desperation and fear in his brother's voice. The human who was holding his hair twisted down harder, and Edward whimpered with the pain of it, cringing under the punishing hold and distracted from his attempts to escape the restraints. The pressure insisted that he relax, curl up and stop moving and allow himself to be carried, the way he would be carried in his kittenhood; the urge battled uncomfortably with the instinct to protect Alphonse.

"That's a good boy," the human crooned. "Shhh, it's okay. There's a good boy." The human's other hand stroked down Edward's back, rubbing him under the pelt.

Eventually he could no longer hear Alphonse crying, and the hand uncurled out of his hair. Edward slumped down to the floor of the box, exhausted and confused, although that didn't stop him from a threatening snap when a human's hand appeared in his vision, touching the chains on his wrists.

"He's bruised himself all up his arms here," said one of the humans.

"You're right. Poor fella. Let's get him back to his own Alphonse."

The top of the box closed.

There was another lurch, and more _motion._ Edward lay quietly where he was restrained, an angry growl rumbling in his throat to warn any human or any stranger who might hear it ... he might be held down for mating, but that didn't mean he was going to just accept whatever happened.

Eventually, the _motion_ stopped, and top of the box opened again to allow the sharp artificial light inside; the first thing the humans did was grab him once more by the back of the hair. Ready to attack and bite, Edward struggled weakly while his wrists were freed.

"Let's get this pelt off of you," said one of the humans, and then Edward was pulled up onto his knees so they could peel the pelt off his back.

The stranger-smells diminished considerably with the pelt gone. Edward growled deeply nevertheless, while his legs were released. He wanted to punch, claw, and fight now that he was loose, but the painful twist on his nape was so hard to fight ...

Human hands ran down his body, between his legs, and examined his wrists where the chains had been. He pushed at them weakly. "He'll be all right," said one of the humans. "He's just a little bruised. Turn him loose."

Edward was lifted out of the box and pushed, face down, onto the cool grass. Then the grip on his hair was suddenly released.

He turned immediately, getting his feet under him and leaping to attack the form of the nearest retreating human. They all scattered, however, and he was unable to catch any of them before they all got through the door and shut it in his face.

"This sucks," he declared, scratching at the door. "If I could figure out how to open this, I'd break all their legs. Al? Are you okay?"

"Nii-san?" The artificial lights snapped off just as Edward was turning around, and he blinked in the sudden darkness. "You're back?"

Edward groped slowly toward the den rock as his eyes adjusted to the far dimmer, indirect illumination from the lights farther away in the zoo. "They didn't hurt you, did they?" he asked, as he crawled under the rock.

He relaxed as soon as Alphonse pulled him into the den. It smelled good here, familiar and normal, and it felt good to have Alphonse curl up around him and kiss his face. "Nobody's hurt me," said Alphonse. "Where did you go?"

"I didn't go anywhere," said Edward. "Don't ask me questions. I'm confused enough." He wrapped his arms around his brother, pulling him close; he didn't have his pelt on, but Alphonse did, and it was unexpectedly comfortable to snuggle up naked after everything that had happened. There was no sign that Alphonse was inclined to cry again, and that was good. Edward pillowed his head against his brother's shoulder and began to try to settle his nerves to sleep.

After a little while, Alphonse said, "I smell strangers."

"I've been smelling them all night," Edward replied. "I haven't seen them, though. I want to sleep."


	3. part iii

The next morning, Edward woke late. He discovered when he opened his eyes that the sun was already well up, and he discovered when he crawled out of the den that the zoo was already open.

A small number of humans were collected at the fence, and they made delighted sounds when he appeared. He frowned at them; he was dirty and not in his pelt, and normally he would take care of things like being dirty before the zoo began to admit visitors. Well, nothing to do about that now. He went over to the pond and waded on in.

"I wanna see the Alphonse!" yelled one of the human children. "Make him come out, too!"

Edward growled to himself as he started to swim off some of the sweat and dirt of mating. They always wanted to see Alphonse, and it was just too bad for them that Alphonse rarely wanted to be seen. His brother hadn't been this shy in the wild, admittedly, but sneaking through a human city was a little different from being on display in a human zoo. Edward wasn't too thrilled about being an exhibit either, but his instincts wouldn't let him just hide in the den all the time; even though he knew there were no predators, he still felt a need to keep watch.

When he felt clean, he went to nose around for his pelt, and found it near the box, where the humans generally left it. He no longer liked the box - actually he had _never_ liked the box - but he especially didn't like it now because it reminded him of being helpless and surrounded by stranger-smells and unable to do anything about them. He growled to himself as he pulled on his pelt, and then leaped on top of the rock where he generally passed his days.

The scent assaulted him immediately ... a stranger Alphonse, somewhere close. He bristled and looked around for the threat, but saw no one. He jumped down from the rock to search, but as soon as he left the rock the scent went away.

When he returned to the top of the rock, the smell hit him again, but there was still no Alphonse in sight. He sniffed around for the source and soon figured out that the pelt strewn across the top of the rock was not Alphonse's ... it was a stranger's.

"What the hell," he said, sitting down on the rock and bringing a piece of the pelt up to his nose. Definitely an Alphonse, and just as definitely not his brother ... the scent was disturbingly familiar, but it wasn't his and his brother's nest-scent. No ... no, it was the stranger from the night before, the one he'd smelled most strongly while being mated, but which he'd never seen.

That made him feel weird, a little crawly feeling in his belly, like when he would enter the den when Alphonse wasn't there and smell the residual smell of his brother's earlier willingness to mate. It was a smell that had soaked into his brain while he came the night before. Not a nice smell - it was a stranger - but it made him a little hard nevertheless.

"Al," he called. "What do you know about a pelt up here on the rock?"

There was a shifting sound from under the rock. "Why would I know anything about a pelt on the rock?" asked Alphonse crossly. "I've been in the den all morning, just like you were until just now."

Edward grumbled, and then tucked a piece of the pelt under his arm as he went to collect breakfast. In the shade of one of the trees, the humans had left a bucket full of food; he picked it up and brought it back to the rock, sitting under the overhang to sort through it.

Alphonse crept to the mouth of the den and snagged a potato to gnaw. "Any rabbits this morning?" he asked hopefully.

"No," said Edward. He knew it wasn't his fault that there was no meat - it wasn't as if he'd actually been out hunting - but it was difficult not to feel that the lack of rabbit was somehow his responsibility.

Alphonse made a disgruntled noise as he started to peel the potato with his teeth and fingernails. "I smell strangers again," he said.

"It's this pelt." Edward tossed it to his brother, and then took a bite out of a peach. Alphonse paused in his potato-peeling to spread the pelt out on the stone and then raise it to his nose.

"You smelled like this all last night," he said eventually. "Did you fight someone when the humans took you away?"

"No," said Edward. "No one except the humans. I kept smelling strangers but never saw them."

With an annoyed noise, Alphonse kicked the pelt out from under the rock. "I don't want to smell that thing," he declared.

Edward kind of did, but he waited until Alphonse took the other peach out of the bucket and retreated back into the den. Then he leaned over and grabbed the pelt, laying it across his lap as he munched.

Humans were gathered at the fence, for some reason finding it fascinating to watch him eat breakfast, but he couldn't go hide in the den with Alphonse feeling grumpy in there. So he made himself comfortable where he was, leaning back against one of the den's supporting walls and rubbing his groin through his pants. The way Alphonse had mated him the night before had been really different - slow, deliberate, nothing like the way Alphonse usually mated him.

He eventually had to squirm a little way out of his pants so that he could properly stroke his erection, something that made a lot of the humans leave the fence. Stranger-smells had never aroused him before, but he'd never been mated in the middle of them before, either. He finished his peach and tossed the middle part away, and then began to masturbate in earnest, sprawling out across the mouth of the den.

"Nii-san," said Alphonse from the darkness inside the den. "What are you doing?"

"What's it look like I'm doing?" Edward closed his eyes, remembering the feel of his brother's cock moving inside him, so slowly, so purposefully, and assisting his memory with the smell from the pelt.

"If you wanted to mate, you could have just said something."

Edward didn't bother to reply. He spread his legs wider and propped up one foot on the rock opposite the one he was leaning against, so that he could wedge himself between them and release some of the tension by flexing his leg.

There was something more to it than just the fact that Alphonse had actually gotten him off that time. He couldn't quite put his finger on it ... he'd felt very _wanted,_ somehow.

He rested where he was after he came and had wiped his fingers off on the stone beside him, staring moodily out toward the fence and the humans who came to look at him.

* * *

When night fell, Edward simply refused to come out of the den.

"I hear the humans," said Alphonse, on his hands and knees and staring toward the stark artificial light coming in the entrance to the den.

"Yeah, me too," said Edward.

Alphonse twitched, and shifted his weight. Edward knew that his brother wanted him to go monitor the situation, prepare to defend the den, and really he wanted to do that as well ... every nerve sang to go see what was happening out there. He couldn't very well fight while backed into the corner in the rear of the den.

But, on the other hand, he knew perfectly well what was going to happen when he went out there. They were going to catch him, lock him into that box, and force him to want to mate so badly that he'd ignore dangerous things like the smell of a stranger Edward in favor of soliciting his brother's cock. He wasn't too anxious to walk right into that yet again.

It always fell to Edward to do most of the fighting. Alphonse was perfectly capable of it, and in fact he could almost always beat Edward when they scrapped, even to the point of being able to subdue Edward for mating if necessary. But there was no surge of anger in Alphonse to make him prowl forth out of the den to investigate noises, no instinct to make him lunge recklessly forward at the first scent of an enemy, to drive off predators by sheer fury. Alphonse only fought in play, or in desperation.

It was as much Alphonse's expectations as his own instincts, that eventually pushed Edward out of the den. Alphonse didn't say anything, too tactful to point out that Edward was being derelict by cowering in the den, but the look in his eyes, shining in reflected light, was eloquent. Edward sighed, and began to crawl out of the den without a word.

He didn't bother trying to escape - he'd already established in his mind that there was no use in it - but he did try to bite the humans who put their hands in range of his teeth. When his wrists were grabbed to hold him, it _hurt,_ hurt so much that he howled in agony, and blinding pain gave him a will to fight that he hadn't had a moment before.

"Hang on, hang on, he's bruised. Be careful ..."

"Wow, those are impressive."

The humans slid their hands down his arms a bit, and the pain was less then; he lay panting on his back on the grass, clenching his fists.

"How are we going to restrain him? We can't put chains on his wrists with him bruised up like this."

Edward looked around, searching for a way to get free while the humans pondered; one of the humans' hands was curled around his right biceps, and he twisted a little to the side to snag one of the fingers in his teeth. The human yelped and released his arm, but another hand came down to replace it before he could do anything with the limited freedom, and then he was grabbed by the back of the hair. That, as before, put a strong clamp down on his struggles ... it was possible to resist the instinct to just flop down on the ground, but it was so hard.

"Oww ... dammit. Still nippy, I see."

"If he's still feeling aggressive, I don't think we can take the chance of putting him in with Alphonse unrestrained."

"I really don't want to put chains on those bruises. They must really hurt."

"If it's a choice between Edward getting hurt a little and letting him attack Alphonse, that's no choice really. And we don't really have the option of waiting for his arms to heal."

A moment later, Edward was being lifted, and while one human kept a hold on his nape to control him, the others quickly moved to get his pelt off, just like every other night. Feeling considerably less well-disposed toward his keepers than he'd been the night before, Edward snarled threateningly as he was handled, and tried to bite when a hand came within range. This resulted in a more secure hold on his hair, which made his limbs pull in toward his body in a reflex completely beyond his control.

He was inside the box and his legs secured already before the pelt was brought out. Just like before, he could smell a stranger, quite strongly, as the humans forced his arms into the coat ... but he suspected now that there was no stranger Edward nearby. Rather, the pelt being put onto him held the scent, the same way that the pelt he'd found on the rock that morning had smelled like a stranger Alphonse.

Turning his head to the side, he sniffed interestedly at the lapel of the coat while the humans shoved him down to bind his wrists; the stranger-smell made his hackles go up, but he could once again detect that faint scent of sickness and ill-health. An Elric with a smell like this would be easy pickings for territory-poaching.

The chains were bound a bit more loosely around his wrists this time, and he leaned forward to put some slack on them, as it hurt for him to draw back and pull against the restraints the way he'd always done before. He did this somewhat distractedly, as his attention was still on the scent in the pelt, and he missed it altogether when the pelt was pulled up to his waist.

He did _not_ miss it when a human's hand touched the back of his thigh, and that thing was slipped into him. All thoughts of strangers and territory left his mind, as a purr began to vibrate in his throat and his body wiggled in sensual pleasure.

"I hate it that we do this kind of thing to him," said one of the humans.

"Why?" asked another. "Look at him, he obviously likes it."

"I don't know ... it seems kind of ... wrong, somehow. You know?"

"He's just an animal, Mary. All he knows is that it feels good. Okay, let's move him."

The top of the box closed, and Edward whined softly as he was shut in the darkness with that terrible, inescapable pleasure. The box jerked and lurched, and then began to move.

No amount of leaning forward, leaning back, or twisting from side to side would dislodge the object inside him. He knew that from the night before, but he couldn't help trying it again ... squirming within the limits of the restraints. All it accomplished was to make the object shift inside him, slightly altering the degree of sensation as it stretched him differently, but not stopping it. Nor did increasing the volume of his purring rid him of it, although that would have caused Alphonse to respond by mating him harder.

Why did the humans do this kind of thing to him? He began to call for Alphonse, frustrated by the teasing, insufficient throbbing of the object inside him and wanting it gone. He wanted his brother to mate him, the way he did the night before, slow and pleasant. He wanted to come.

It was none too soon before the motion stopped, and the top of the box opened again. Edward stretched, pulling a little on his wrists before the pain stopped him and he straightened back up, and looked up at the humans who were peering in at him.

"There's a good boy," said one of the humans, stroking Edward's head. Too aroused to try to bite, Edward just purred more loudly and wriggled. Maybe that was it. Maybe they were trying to tame him with sexual arousal. He would have to think about that more later, because it would make him angry if he decided that it was true ... but he couldn't get angry now, not with his cock dripping and his groin aching.

The thing was taken out of him then, leaving him feeling empty and bereft. Then the top of the box was closed again.

He knew what this meant, and immediately began to call for his brother, even before the sounds of the humans faded. "Al?" he called. The purr softened his voice. "Al? Come on, Al."

He had to call several times before he heard his brother's response. "Nii-san?"

"Yes. _Yes._ Come on, Al. I'm in here."

His brother's smell ... and the smell of the stranger Alphonse ... entered the box with a soft sound of creeping behind him. "Nii-san? Nii-san!"

Edward yelped as his brother's weight fell on him from behind, and would have crushed him down to the floor if he hadn't been forced up on his knees by the restraints. The chains pulled on his wrists, and he struggled to get his weight off of them while Alphonse kissed his back and rubbed against his pelt.

"Nii-san, don't ever go away again. Stop leaving me! I'm all alone without you, don't leave me again. Please!" Alphonse's hands crumpled in the red pelt, and Edward felt his brother burying his face in the fabric.

"I'm not ..." said Edward. He squirmed under Alphonse's weight. "It's just the humans putting me into this box. They want you to mate me, remember?" He restarted his purr to encourage his brother. "Don't you want to?"

Alphonse's unhappiness was contagious, though, and as his brother sobbed into his back, Edward wanted to turn around, roll onto his back and hold Alphonse close. He purred comfortingly, but that didn't stop the sobs.

"Hey," said Edward eventually. "Hey, why are you crying?"

"I miss you," whispered Alphonse softly.

Twisting his wrists painfully in the chains, Edward said, "I'm right here, though. I've always been here." He pulled one hand back, trying to get it free of the restraints.

The chain was loose enough that, when he did that, and twisted his hand enough, it slipped free. It hurt a lot, pulling against bruised flesh and bone, but it _came free._

He shook his other hand loose as well, and sat up on his knees, bumping his head into the top of the box. The change in position pushed Alphonse off his back, as Edward groped toward his legs and the restraints on them.

"Nii-san ... what are you doing?"

Edward had seen the humans remove these often enough that he knew there was no real trick to it; one yank on each, at knees and ankles, got him completely loose. It was easier than opening a sliding door.

He squirmed, turning around inside the cramped box to face his brother. Noises were starting up outside the box - humans coming again - and he abruptly grabbed his brother by the lapels and yanked him close. Alphonse crawled into his lap - half-out of his pelt, like Edward himself - and held Edward around his waist.

When the top of the box opened, and light spilled in along with the hands of excited humans, Edward was expecting them. He snarled and Alphonse instantly released him, so that he could leap to attack the first human to touch them. All the humans drew back a step, and Edward rose up to an aggressive half-crouch over his brother.

"Look at Alphonse!" said one of the humans. "Is he okay? Did Edward hurt him?"

"I don't see any blood ..."

The place Edward was in was unfamiliar. A large, closed-in room rather than his and his brother's outdoors enclosure ... there was no grass, just a hard wood floor, like the floor of a train car, with the dark entrance to a den in one corner. Where was he? What was this place? What had happened to the trench, the fence, the decorative rock that concealed their den?

He'd been moved.

His surprised inattention did not prevent him from taking a swipe at a human trying to get behind him. "Oh no," he said, baring his teeth. "You're not getting my hair again."

_"Is Alphonse okay?"_ demanded one of the humans.

Alphonse grabbed one of Edward's ankles, but released it again when Edward kicked his foot a little. Other than that he remained down, and did not move.

"He seems to be okay. We'll have to lure Edward away from him."

"Don't leave, Nii-san," said Alphonse softly.

"I'm not going to," said Edward. Things were starting to make sense, though ... as anger and the desire to fight killed any inclination to mate, it was easier to think. This was not his enclosure. This was not even his pelt ... it smelled of a different Edward, and Alphonse responded to that smell. Alphonse ... who also smelled like a stranger.

This wasn't his Alphonse.

However, when one of the humans came forward, hand teasingly extended, he cuffed at it and then retreated again to crouch over Alphonse.

"Don't leave me again," whispered Alphonse, nuzzling the hem of Edward's coat.

"I'm not leaving. Don't worry."

"You know," said one of the humans, "Edward isn't actually fighting with Alphonse."

"No, he isn't, is he?"

"Do you think it worked?"

"God, I hope so ..."

"They could still turn on each other."

A pause. Edward looked at each of the humans in turn.

"Yeah ..." said one of them after a moment. "Should we leave them together for a while?"

"Might be a good idea ..."

"We should get a collar on Edward at any rate. So Alphonse can get away from him if he needs to."

"I'll go get the noose. You two keep an eye on them."

And, at that, one of the humans slowly backed off and let himself out of the room. The other two didn't seem inclined to attack or provoke Edward to attack, and eventually Edward sunk down beside his brother.

He ran one hand down his brother's back, and said, "It's okay. I'm not going anywhere."

"I thought you were dead," said Alphonse unhappily. "I don't want them to take you away again."

Confusing. This wasn't his Alphonse, and he knew that, but it was hard for Edward to keep that in mind. He'd mated with Alphonse, knew his scent, and Alphonse was depending on him for protection ... this was his brother, too, in a way. Alphonse recognized them as brothers, anyway. Was there a difference?

He cocked a grin at Alphonse and said, "I won't go anywhere."

The third human returned then, carrying the long pole with the loop at the end. Edward rose up again, because he knew what that meant, and he didn't want to be taken away from Alphonse again. Alphonse could fight, but would only do so as a last resort; it was Edward's responsibility to keep them safe.

He tried to keep an eye on the human with the noose, but the other two came closer and distracted him, and before he knew it he was being yanked backwards by the rope around his throat. Alphonse cried out as the other two humans came forward to grab Edward's legs and drag him out of the box; he ended up face-down on the floor near one of the walls, the pressure of the pole on the back of his neck and one of the humans holding his legs. He growled and clawed, while Alphonse cried for him.

"Nii-san! Don't go again! Don't go!"

"Be careful," said one of the humans. "Don't hurt him. Where's the collar?"

"I've got it here."

Something rattled, and then one of the humans wrapped a collar around Edward's neck. It was heavy and solid, and he hated the feel of collars so he clawed at the hands that were fastening it.

"Don't let him ... don't let him bite you ..."

"Get his hand, would you?"

One of the humans grabbed him by the wrists, and he howled in pain until the hands shifted to his own, pressing his palms to the floor. "Easy, boy. Take it easy. Nobody wants to hurt you ... have you got it?"

The collar was tugged. "Yeah. Let him go."

The noose was pulled off his neck, and all the humans backed away. Edward rose to chase after one, and was brought up short by the collar. He snarled and tried again, but could get no closer.

"Let's go. We'll watch them from outside."

"Are you sure this is safe?"

"Well, they need to get used to each other."

"It's better than letting him roam around. Alphonse should be able to get out of reach if Edward attacks him."

The humans retreated then. Edward snarled after them, just to make sure his displeasure was fully communicated.

"Nii-san?" whimpered Alphonse from somewhere unseen.

"I'm here," said Edward. He patted the collar around his throat, found the attached chain and followed it with his fingers and eyes to where it was linked somehow to the wall. A few tugs verified that it wasn't coming free from the wall easily, so he sat down under the place where the ring connected and started to pick at the collar with his fingers. "Where are you?"

There was a pause before Alphonse's face appeared over the edge of the box. Then Alphonse was scrambling out of the box and over to Edward, going down on his knees so he could crawl into Edward's lap.

Edward put his arms around his brother, and looked around. The room was full of that artificial light that humans liked to use at night, dim and yellow and coming from sources overhead. There were windows in the room but they were all dark, and it was so bare and empty in here ... it made Edward vaguely angry for reasons he didn't completely understand.

Rubbing his cheek against Edward's chest, Alphonse said, "You didn't leave again."

"I won't if I can help it." The smell of Alphonse was still prickling something negative in Edward ... his brother's scent and this stranger's scent mixed together, and the stranger was also his brother, wasn't he? But his nerves were jangling nevertheless. "I can't stop the humans from doing things, though. I try, but it isn't ever enough." If it weren't for him, they wouldn't be in this zoo in the first place ... he'd been the one to fall into that trap, and he'd been the one who had been unable to fight off the humans who came to collect them. He was the one who continued to be unable to figure out a way to escape the enclosure, and it was he who continued to be unable to resist the humans when they came to do things to them. "I'm sorry. I don't want to leave you alone again."

Alphonse sat up a bit. "You don't have to be sorry," he said. "You came back." He smiled and brushed Edward's hair back from his face, and then settled in for a more thorough grooming. His smile was sad, though, and the way his hands moved was nervous. Edward didn't like it. He tilted his head forward so that his braid could be pulled free and his hair combed out straight, and then tilted his head back again so that Alphonse could touch his face and throat, fiddle with the heavy collar, and then stroke Edward's chest.

"Don't ever go away again," Alphonse murmured softly, as he brushed his fingertips over Edward's nipples.

Stranger-smell ... mixed with the smell of his own brother, his own nest-scent, coming from the shirt that Alphonse wore, but stranger-smell beneath that nevertheless. Edward raised his hands to Alphonse's face, the instinct to drive off the stranger competing with his desire to accept and comfort his brother, who so clearly needed him. Slowly, he began to groom his brother's hair in turn, raking his fingers through the long strands to comb out the tangles. There were a lot of them, and he took his time.

Alphonse began to purr under his fingers, and lightly pinched his nipples, which made Edward start to purr in turn. His forgotten arousal was eager to remind him that it had never been satisfied; his cock twitched a bit as he tilted forward to lip Alphonse's nose and cheeks.

"Nii-san," moaned Alphonse, leaning back and pulling Edward closer ... only for Edward to be drawn up short by the chain. Alphonse raised his hands to Edward's neck, lightly touching the collar that trapped him. "What is this?"

"A collar," said Edward, annoyance briefly eclipsing his arousal. That didn't last very long, though; he turned his head to try to catch Alphonse's fingers in his mouth.

Alphonse considered that a little, eyes going from the collar to the place where the chain connected to the wall. Then he tugged on the collar and examined it closely. "Can't it come off so you can come to the den?"

"Probably not. If you can find a way, go ahead and take it off."

Gentle fingers picked at the collar and the chain while Edward sat impatiently. He wanted to mate, and Alphonse seemed receptive enough ... he began to stroke himself while his brother fiddled with the collar.

"I can't get it off," said Alphonse eventually. He grabbed the chain and yanked it, pulling Edward to the side, and then looked curiously at the chain before doing it again.

"Stop that," said Edward. He raised his hand to his throat just in time to be hauled backwards against the wall, as Alphonse forced him back with the chain.

"Do you still want to mate?" asked Alphonse.

"Yes." Edward pulled futilely at the collar while Alphonse tugged on it again. "Let me go."

Alphonse's eyes traveled down the chain again, to the collar. "I want to mate with you," he said. "I missed you so much."

One of Alphonse's hands kept hold of the chain, but the other began to comb through Edward's hair again, grooming him distractedly. Edward moved to sit up on his knees, which forced Alphonse out of his lap; that was okay, though. "I want you to mate me," he said, nuzzling his brother's fingers as they came close to his lips. "I can't go to the den, though. Or the box. I'm stuck here."

"I can mate you here," said Alphonse, tugging on the chain as he slid closer, getting fully within the chain's radius. "The humans are so cruel to you. Hurting you, making you sick, chaining you ..."

"We'll get away someday," said Edward.

"Yes." Alphonse began to kiss his face, releasing the chain to run hands down his arms. "I trust you."

The humans had left oil for them, as they always did, in the box. Alphonse went to get it, and then knelt again and pulled Edward into his lap. Edward occupied himself with grooming his brother's hair while the familiar invasion of fingers prepared him; Alphonse's hair was a mess, a disgrace. He combed his fingers through it, patiently working loose a tangle until his brother's fingers touched off an abrupt flash of pleasure, and he had to gasp and arch his back. A deep purr started to rumble in his throat.

"Turn around," said Alphonse. And then, "No," when Edward began to go down on his hands and knees. "Sit up more."

Edward ended up with his chest pressed to the wall and his legs spread, on his knees, yes, but not with his head bowed to the ground. Alphonse knelt low and pulled up Edward's rear so that he could be mated, but when Edward attempted to straighten up he was told, "No," again. He splayed his fingers across the wall and stepped up his purr as his brother's cock entered him.

It felt strange ... it felt awkward. He was almost sitting in his brother's lap as Alphonse thrust into him. But when he tried to go down again, Alphonse's arms went around him, and he was pulled up and pressed against the wall once again. His brother's cock went deep, and filled him completely. There were kisses across his shoulders.

He'd never been mated like this before. It was strange and he wasn't sure he liked it. It felt good ... it felt _great_ ... but it wasn't what he was used to. It made him remember that this was not his Alphonse ... this was some other Alphonse ... but then his brother twisted his hands in Edward's coat and buried his face in Edward's back, and thrust _hard_ ... and all Edward could do was purr and moan and squirm.

He came against the wall without almost no help at all from Alphonse - just two strokes of his erection sent him spinning. Trapped between Alphonse's body and the wall, he was not allowed to slide to the ground as his brother continued to mate him in deliberate, almost painfully slow strokes. He moaned and purred, and his fingernails scraped against the wall until Alphonse came as well.

Only then was he released and allowed to curl up on the floor. He wormed around until he was facing his brother, and flipped the tails of his coat over Alphonse's legs as he snuggled close. He could smell his brother's familiar nest-scent, along with that strange, lingering scent of a stranger Alphonse, but that no longer bothered him much.

Moving slowly, Alphonse began to re-braid Edward's hair. No one but his true brother would do that for him.

* * *

Edward was removed from his enclosure to visit his brother the next night as well, and the night after that. He slept some in that strange, bare room, and some in his enclosure, and Alphonse became insistent on wanting to mate him when he was returned in the morning as well as during the night when he was leashed to the wall in that strange room.

The first day Edward just brushed him off, but the day after that Alphonse wouldn't take no for an answer, and so Edward ended up on his knees in the den when the sun was high.

"You smell like a stranger all the time now," Alphonse complained. His thrusts were rough and hard.

"I don't smell it," said Edward. He purred loudly, because Alphonse was annoyed, and he was holding Edward so hard it hurt a little.

"It isn't as bad as it was yesterday," said Alphonse. "But I don't like it."

When Alphonse came, he just shoved Edward away and crawled back into the deepest part of the den. Confused, Edward rolled onto his side on the stone, and looked at his brother; growling a little, Alphonse straightened his pelt and turned his back on Edward.

"Al," said Edward after a moment. "What's the matter?"

Alphonse only grunted, so Edward left his pelt on the stone and crept deeper into the den. "What did I do?" he asked, as he started to groom his brother's hair.

"Don't touch me. You smell like a stranger all the time now."

Edward did not stop, because he didn't like all these strange changes to his life, and comfort had always come from his brother before. A moment later, Alphonse rolled over and struck his hand away.

Although the action was violent, Alphonse smelled upset. Edward bristled. "What'd you do that for?" he demanded, sitting up a little.

"Stop touching me," said Alphonse again, as he rolled over and presented his back to Edward once again.

"I'll touch you if I want. You're my brother."

"Are you _mine?_ You keep coming back smelling more and more like someone else. Someone I don't know. I don't know you either. What are the humans doing to you?"

"The same things they were doing before, when you mated me in that box while I was chained down." Edward made himself comfortable and reached back, combing the braid out of his own hair; he felt the urge to groom, and if Alphonse wouldn't let him touch, he'd have to touch himself.

"That was different."

"No it wasn't. You mated me all night and wouldn't even let me come. That was cruel of you. But everything is the same now, we're just not mating in the box anymore."

"It isn't the same! You smell different!"

Edward had no idea what to say to that. He remembered, vaguely, a stranger-Alphonse smell which had annoyed and angered him, but it was confused now with his own nest-scent ... and anyway it had always just been an Alphonse. He sat in silence for a moment, awkwardly grooming his own hair.

He said slowly, "I'm still your brother." Then he turned around, facing the entrance to the den and putting his back to Alphonse.

He was just about to crawl back to his pelt and leave when Alphonse grabbed him by the tips of his hair. "Wait ... Nii-san ..."

Edward waited. Alphonse paused for a long time, and then sat up behind him, and started to groom him, fingers moving through his hair to get all of it straight and untangled. "I don't want things to change," said Alphonse quietly.

"Everything changes," said Edward. He tilted his head back a little to permit his brother to groom his hair. "But I'm not leaving. I told you that before."

"I know you're not." Alphonse's fingers stroked briefly down Edward's spine, and then went back to his hair. "I'm not trying to drive you away. Not really."

"I smelled it, too, before," said Edward. "But not so much anymore." Alphonse's fingers divided his hair into sections, and then began to carefully braid it, over and under, over and under. "It means nothing, anyway."

"Maybe." Alphonse went quiet, until Edward's braid was finished; then he leaned forward, and his arms came around Edward, head resting on Edward's shoulder. "It makes me angry to smell it. But I'm not really angry at you."

That night, no humans came to remove Edward from the enclosure, and Edward and Alphonse slept curled up together in their den.


	4. part iv

The last of the humans came through near sundown, a small family with two young children who pressed themselves against the fence and stared. Edward, stretched out atop the rock in their enclosure, grinned at them and waved merrily to the children, who shyly waved back. The adults tried to herd the children over to the placard set up just outside the fence, which described various characteristics of Elrics under waterproof glass, but the children were more interested in looking at Edward than reading about him.

"He looks like a person," said the older of the two children.

"I know," replied one of the adults. "But he isn't. He's just a very smart animal."

"Smart enough to look like a person?"

"Does he know his name?" asked the younger child. Without awaiting an answer, the child raised his hands to his mouth and yelled, "Edward!"

Edward did know his name, and perked up a bit at the sound of it. However, the human child did not seem to actually want to say anything to him, so he relaxed again after a few moments.

The humans left as he rolled over to catch the last of the sunlight, and no more visitors arrived after that. The zoo was closing; it would be getting dark soon. He wondered idly if he would be moved again tonight.

The door at the back of the enclosure opened, and Edward was up on all fours immediately. It wasn't feeding time yet, but one of their keepers came in with a bucket of food anyway, setting it down under one of the trees; she was almost immediately followed by two of the other keepers, rolling a large box into the enclosure on a cart of some kind.

"Keep an eye on Edward," said one of them.

"He's on the rock."

Edward bristled. The humans made no move toward him, however, keeping near the wall at the back as they fiddled around with their cart and the large box. The box was carefully lifted off the cart - it seemed heavy - and set on the ground.

"Where's Edward?"

"Edward's still on the rock. Hasn't moved yet."

"Good. Turn it ... no, turn it sideways."

The box was twisted around in place, and then the side of it removed. It was open inside. Edward eyed it with a mixture of curiosity and dread. What were the humans doing now? Edward didn't like all these breaks in the routine ... every time things changed, it was for the worse.

"Okay, let's go." The humans, still keeping a close watch on Edward, retreated out the door. When the door closed again, Edward's hackles went down somewhat. Not completely, though ... there was still this matter of a big new box near the wall.

He watched it for a long time, wondering if it was some kind of trap. They could easily catch him without trapping him, though, so that didn't necessarily make any sense. He sniffed the air, but smelled nothing unusual. Eventually, he moved to jump down off the rock in order to investigate.

He'd only gotten within a few dozen yards of it, though, when Alphonse poked his head out of the box. How had Alphonse gotten into the box?

"Al," said Edward, surprised.

Alphonse's head turned, and he broke into a wide, delighted grin. "Nii-san!" he said, and scrambled the rest of the way out. Edward found himself pounced, knocked to the ground while Alphonse held him by the shoulders and peppered his face with kisses. "I missed you!"

"I didn't go anywhere," said Edward, confused. Alphonse had been in the den, then he was in the box ...

In search of some kind of answer, Edward turned his head to look toward the den, where he'd thought Alphonse was. And ... there was Alphonse, peering out from under the rock at him.

That Alphonse must be a stranger. Edward stared; he'd been _sure_ that his Alphonse was in the den, but he knew this one on top of him was not a stranger, so didn't that mean that the one in the den was?

But no ... no ... He lay quietly under Alphonse, submitting to the kisses while turning his memories over in his mind. He'd been forgetting it recently, as their scents blended together and became both of them familiar, but he remembered now that he had two brothers.

Alphonse came out of the den, crawling into the open. The motion got the other one's attention, and a moment later Edward was released as Alphonse stood up, and looked cautiously toward the den.

"You're the one I've been smelling," said Alphonse, after a moment of sniffing the air with his eyes half-closed.

"You smell familiar, too." Alphonse stepped closer to the rock, slowly.

Edward remained on his back on the ground and watched his brothers carefully approach each other, scratching his belly and wondering if he ought to do something. His instinct was to protect his brother ... but if he had _two_ then things were less clear. How was he supposed to protect one brother from the other?

At least they weren't fighting yet. Both of them looked ready to fight, bristling a bit, but there was no violence as they came within easy striking distance of each other.

"I don't understand," said Alphonse. "Why is Nii-san with you?"

"The humans have been taking him away every night. Except last night. You've been mating him?"

They got closer yet, and one of them began to sniff cautiously at the other.

"He's my brother. Of course I have."

"He's _my_ brother, though." Alphonse backed off a little from the sniffing, and drew himself up to look as big as possible. Edward rolled onto his belly and prepared to intervene in a fight, although he still wasn't sure which one he was supposed to be defending. "You've been mating with my brother," said Alphonse. "You shouldn't be doing that."

"But ... he isn't yours. He's _mine._ He was sick and the humans took him away until he got better."

Both Alphonses turned Edward's way, and Edward look warily back at them. "Nii-san, tell him," said Alphonse.

So confusing. Edward had figured it out once, though ... and although it was a lot easier to just let his instincts rule him, let the comfort of the familiar nest-scent lull him and allow whichever Alphonse he was with at the moment to mate him, he remembered. "There was another Edward," he said. "He was sick, and I suppose he must have died."

"No," said Alphonse. "He ... you didn't die. The humans took you away and made you better."

Edward shook his head. "The humans put me into your Edward's coat, so you would smell him and think I was him. But I'm not." He smiled and stood up. "I'll be your brother anyway, though."

Alphonse looked disturbed for a moment, shocked, and then the moment passed and he narrowed his eyes skeptically. "No games," he said. "I know your smell, I know your feel. You smelled strange for a while, but it was just the sickness. You don't smell strange anymore."

Edward's brother ... his first brother ... was giving the other Alphonse a speculative look now. He was smart, Edward's brother, when he wanted to be - that was why they had chosen each other, after all. Alphonse knew what Edward was saying.

"But you're _my_ brother," he said eventually.

Edward nodded. "I can be his brother, too."

Alphonse looked surprised for a moment, and said, "You'd do that?"

Going down into a crouch, Edward shrugged. There was no way to explain why he'd want to ... his instinct was to have one brother, with whom he could share everything, and drive off all strangers. But at the same time, the other Alphonse no longer felt like a stranger. "Yeah," he said, scraping his fingernails through the grass. "I can have two brothers. Why not?"

Both Alphonses were staring at him, but one of them looked confused rather than surprised; Edward could no longer tell which of them was which. But then the surprised one stopped looking surprised, and turned to the other Alphonse.

"I'll share him with you if you want."

Now the other one looked surprised. "I don't understand any of this."

"It doesn't matter. You can't have him all for yourself. But you don't have to be alone either. If Nii-san doesn't mind, I don't mind either."

Edward stayed where he was as one of the Alphonses lightly touched the other one's hand, and then turned and crawled back into the den. The one that remained watched him go, and then turned to Edward.

"Nii-san, I don't want to be alone," he said quietly.

Smiling, Edward said, "You don't have to be. You're my brother."

* * *

There was no mating that night. Edward eventually followed his brother into the den, leaving Alphonse outside in the enclosure. When he woke, however, both of them were there, one tangled in his arms and the other pressed against his back. He was warm and comfortable, and one of them was slowly stroking his groin through his pelt, which felt very good. A soft murmur of conversation passed back and forth over him, but it quieted when he twitched further toward wakefulness.

Stretching out a bit, he shifted more onto his back to encourage the stroking, and softly grunted his pleasure. The fingers moved with him, shaping out his cock under his pelt, and his testicles. He didn't bother to open his eyes; the only thing he could smell was the calming, familiar nest-scent, which meant everything was fine.

Eventually, his brother rolled over as well and began to kiss his mouth and neck. Edward had a moment of disconnect when he realized that it was the _other_ Alphonse who simultaneously groping him, but the scent was soothing, and neither of his brothers seemed upset at all. He soon relaxed again, under soft kisses and gentle touches.

"I want to mate," said Alphonse.

"Okay," said Edward. He was certainly willing.

"I do, too," said the other Alphonse.

Another hand slid between Edward's legs, and he groaned and squirmed. As one of his brothers began to tug at his pelt, and started to open it so he could get it out of it, the other one continued to massage his groin. Edward reached forward blindly and started to strip whichever Alphonse was in front of him.

By the time Edward bared enough skin to be able to pull Alphonse against him and suck on one nipple, he was half-out of his own pelt and being pushed onto his side. Arms went around his head to hold him to Alphonse's chest as his leg was pulled up; he groaned with pleasure as slick, clever fingers invaded him.

"He's still sleepy," said his brother behind him. "That's good."

"Would he fight if he were awake?"

"No, but it's still better that he's sleepy."

"I can hear you, you know," murmured Edward around Alphonse's nipple. Then he yelped and jerked at the sudden retaliatory motion of the fingers inside him.

"Don't hurt him," said Alphonse, with a note of worry.

"I'm not hurting him. He can take a lot more than that."

The motion of Alphonse's fingers went back to gentle in-and-out stroking, and Edward relaxed again; a light purr started in the back of his throat. He resumed licking at the nipple under his lips, and began to pull on the remainder of Alphonse's pelt.

They were getting along, at least. And cooperating on their assault on his body - as one of them stroked Edward's hair, held up his leg by the knee and let him suck contentedly on that nipple, the other petted him down his back and slowly prepared him for penetration. It was true that Edward was still drowsy, and not totally alert; he could have been if he'd wanted to be, but there didn't seem to be a lot of point. There was nothing bad happening, and a lot that was pleasurable and soothing.

The one behind him said, "Okay," and then withdrew his fingers. The next thing to slide into Edward was his brother's cock, and he moaned and raised the volume of his purr as the penetration put comfortable pressure inside him. The support of his raised leg was passed from one Alphonse to the other without fuss as he whimpered and sucked hard on his brother's nipple. It felt so good, his arousal was so high and the hard, filling pressure inside him was perfect.

Then his brother's nipple was being pulled out of reach, and he reached to clutch and draw it back. He opened his eyes slightly; the den was dark with only the faintest pre-dawn light, but he could tell that Alphonse was shifting around on the rock, turning around to lay the other direction and present his groin to Edward's mouth instead of his chest. That was acceptable ... Edward just wanted to suck on _something_ as he was mated. He leaned forward and took his brother's erection into his mouth instead, purring and sucking as his other brother rocked in and out of him.

"Oh-h-h, that's good," whispered Alphonse, kissing Edward's hip. A hand went behind Edward's head, fingers threading through his hair at the nape of his neck. Edward responded by sliding one arm, the one he wasn't laying upon, around Alphonse's waist and spreading his own fingers over his brother's bare rump. He was trapped between them now, being mated by them both, and it felt _wonderful._ His throat and chest rumbled with his deep purr, and he applied his tongue to the cock in his mouth with all the enthusiasm that his drowsiness would permit. His own breathing was harsh, rushing through his nose because his mouth was full, but over the sound he could hear both Alphonses panting with pleasure as they used him; the one behind him growled his dominance into Edward's ear.

Warmth suddenly enveloped Edward's aching erection as the other Alphonse took it into his mouth. Edward jerked and keened around the cock in his mouth, writhing between the bodies that bracketed his. He was firmly held, though ... one hand behind his head, keeping his mouth on his brother's cock, his other brother holding his leg in the air and using the leverage to control him. Forgetting to suck, forgetting _everything_ except the overwhelming pleasure of having a cock inside him at the same time that his own cock was licked, Edward squirmed and cried out, and came forcefully into Alphonse's mouth.

For a few moments, he lost track of what was going on beyond the sensations in his own body ... the brother behind him snarled with his own pleasure, and Edward presumed that he was coming as well. The other Alphonse kept sucking ardently on Edward's erection, dragging out Edward's orgasm to almost painful lengths. A point came when Edward wanted to escape it, and stop the movement of Alphonse's mouth on his softening and sensitized penis, but he was still trapped and held down. Alphonse's own cock filled his mouth, muffled his cries as it moved shallowly in and out, and in desperation to make it stop Edward resumed sucking.

The sharp, overwhelming pleasure of Alphonse's mouth did finally stop then, and two thrusts later his brother growled softly and filled Edward's mouth with semen. Allowed to finally relax, Edward swallowed a little and let the rest drip out between his lips.

He drifted back to sleep for a little while, but he was covered in come and sweat, and the pull of stickiness as his skin dried eventually woke him again, scratching. His brothers were gone, and the light coming in the den was quite a bit brighter. Peeling his pelt the rest of the way off, Edward crept out of the den and into the morning.

The zoo didn't seem to be open yet, but it probably would soon. Both Alphonses were in the pond, one of them swimming in the deeper water where it was just barely too deep to stand and touch the bottom; the other was sitting on the edge, his pelt spread out beside him on the grass while he kicked his feet in the water. He looked up as Edward emerged and stretched.

"You're awake," he said, smiling.

"Yeah," said Edward. He stepped toward the water with the intent of rinsing off himself; Alphonse watched him slide into the water.

"I understand now," he said, after Edward had dunked his head under the water and was shaking out his hair. "Your brother explained it to me. I thought you were mine, you know."

"I am," said Edward, stretching himself out in the shallows, where he could rest his head on his arms on the grass, and water lapped up over his thighs.

"Not really. You belong to him, and he belongs to you, and I ..."

Frowning, Edward said, "Quit it. You're my brother now. The humans tricked me, but even though it was a trick, I let you mate me and I said I was your brother, and I'm not going to go back on that. Al doesn't mind. I don't mind. So don't get upset."

Behind Edward there was splashing, as Alphonse waded up out of the deeper water. His weight settled on the backs of Edward's thighs, sitting and holding; Edward squirmed as his brother's wet hands began to stroke his back.

"What are you two talking about?" asked Alphonse, splashing cool water up onto Edward's back.

"It doesn't ..." said Alphonse, and then he paused, and revised what he was about to say. "I shouldn't be mating your ... your Edward."

"It's all right," said Alphonse easily. "If he minded, I'd mind. But he doesn't. So it's okay. Why don't you come mate him now?"

"Hey," said Edward. He wasn't sure he really wanted to mate. But he started to purr a little when Alphonse began to groom his hair, and then braid it wet.

"Come on," said Alphonse.

"I don't know ..."

"It's okay. He won't mind. I want to watch you do it."

Edward growled a little, but neither of them paid any attention to him, and it was impossible to keep Alphonse off of him if his brother was really serious about it. Once his hair was braided, Alphonse got off his thighs and let him up, and he rolled over onto his back.

"What if I don't want to mate?" he asked. But Alphonse began to rub his thighs under the water.

"You know you don't mean that," said Alphonse.

"Mmmm." Edward sighed and closed his eyes.

A light, dry touch brushed over his face. "I want to mate him," said Alphonse quietly.

"Come on then. I'll hold him down if he tries to run away. I want to watch you do it."

Edward peered down at his brother, but he knew Alphonse would do it so he didn't bother to object. He closed his eyes again as the touch to his face drifted down his neck.

"Fine," he said, and there was less of a bite to the word than he'd intended.

The zoo was definitely open by now; he could hear visitors moving down the walkway between their enclosure and the tigers' as Alphonse's hands moved over his chest, and began to tweak his nipples. Edward didn't look to see if the humans were lingering at the fence. He supposed they probably were, since they always wanted to see Alphonse, and Alphonse was right out in the open today. He raised his arms over his head, his lower body in the water, his shoulders on the grass.

His brothers eventually changed places, one of them pressing his hands to Edward's while the other slid his hands up the insides of Edward's thighs to part them and play with his testicles. It felt good, but when Alphonse started to move up between his legs, Edward squirmed uncomfortably.

"You're not going to mate me right here, are you?" he asked.

"Why not?"

Edward watched Alphonse's hand dip under the water, and then his back arched as one finger wormed its way into him, testing. "We're outside," he said. When he tried to move his hands, the other Alphonse's grip on him tightened.

"So what?" The finger worked deeper, lubricated by nothing more than the pond's water and whatever oil and semen was still inside Edward from earlier. Edward gasped and tried to kick away from it, but Alphonse laid his other hand on Edward's leg to hold him.

"Humans will watch." When Edward turned his head, he could see that a couple were already watching, loitering at the fence.

"Humans are almost always watching us anyway," said Alphonse. "Going into the den won't make any difference in that."

"It won't?" asked Alphonse.

"Not really."

Edward tried to object and demand that he be taken back to the den anyway, but the finger inside him suddenly tugged hard, up and forward into his pelvis, and the words were lost in a long moan. Alphonse's other hand stroked his groin, grooming through the wiry hair and toying with his hardening erection. He didn't like this, though. Even being under the rock would be better, whether the zoo visitors could watch or not ... he felt exposed and unprotected. He pulled at his hands, but his brother held them fast, pressing the backs of his hands to the ground.

"Let me go," he whimpered.

"No," said Alphonse, and his hands flexed on Edward's as he re-secured his grip. "I want to see him mate you."

"Not _here!"_

"Yes, here."

Edward wailed, but those hands between his legs were relentless, and he couldn't get his own hands free. His body reacted without any direction from him, thighs spreading to allow Alphonse between them, muscles relaxing to invite penetration. Before long, Alphonse was down on his knees in the shallows, raising Edward's legs by the knees; the water made it easier, buoying his body somewhat.

"Don't," he pleaded, but then he closed his eyes and twisted as Alphonse's erection slowly entered him. His brother was careful; the water was not very slick, so he went slow. There was only a little bit of pain, an abrupt stab as flesh stretched that made Edward gasp, and after that only a slight burn of discomfort. Even that became less as Alphonse started to rock in and out of him, pulling out to leave him moaning for more, and then sliding back in to fill him and make him thrash. He twitched, tugging on his hands, and turning his head from side to side; he didn't like this at _all,_ but that didn't matter to his cock. He wanted to come.

But, as he panted and writhed, he heard Alphonse say with a low growl, "No. Don't touch him."

"Why not?" His other brother was panting as well, and probably close to climax.

"I want to mate him when you're done."

"No," moaned Edward. He wanted to come. The water teased him, moving softly against the skin of his thighs and hips, and where he was out of the water his skin was hot and moist with sweat. Alphonse mated him very gently, which he appreciated because there was no oil, only water, but that gave him nowhere near enough stimulation to come without someone touching his cock.

"Shhhh," said Alphonse, and the sound was low and aroused. "I'm going to mate you when he's done with you. You look so good like this. You _smell_ so good."

"Can I ... watch?" panted the Alphonse between Edward's legs.

"Of course you can."

Alphonse let out a soft, growling cry and came, leaning forward against Edward and breathing hard against his chest. Opening his eyes, Edward tried again to pull free; Alphonse's belly was brushing against his cock, and he wanted to touch it and make himself come.

"No," said Alphonse. "I'm going to mate you next."

"Maybe," panted the other Alphonse, and then he swallowed. "Maybe I'll want to again when you're done."

So cruel! So cruel! Although it was impossible to deter Alphonse when he was serious about wanting to mate, Edward could usually make it enough of a hassle when he didn't want to be mated that Alphonse would give up. With two of them, they could just pass him back and forth until they were both sated. Edward snarled as he pulled on his wrists, but neither Alphonse paid any attention to him.

Pushing himself up a bit, Alphonse asked, "Do you usually refuse to make him come?"

"No. It's usually too hard. But if you help, we can keep him ready to mate as long as we want."

Intolerable! But there was nothing Edward could do ... Alphonse did not release his hands until the other Alphonse had come up out of the water to take them, and then Edward was back to being held down by one brother with the other one between his legs. He moaned and helplessly bucked his hips as his brother's cock was thrust deep inside him, taking him more roughly than before.

"Thank you," whispered Alphonse, leaning close and lightly kissing Edward's sweat-dampened forehead.

All Edward could do was whine.


	5. epilogue

It was just after midday and still hot, although the sky was starting to show some signs of rain. Edward lay atop the den rock, watching the humans walk by. Some came to stop at the fence to look at him, but there weren't many children today. That was somewhat disappointing.

He kept one ear cocked for any hint that his brothers were waking up. The frequency with which they were mating him had been dropping off a little in the past couple of days, but he was still wary; if he went down into the den willingly when they first woke and were still sleepy, they'd often let him get away with just one round. If he let them fully wake and made them come after him, one of them - he was completely hopeless at telling them apart now - would get excited and want to mate him until dusk or past dusk.

If there weren't _two_ of them ... he vaguely remembered a time when he'd had only one brother and it had been possible to fend him off if he wanted to mate and Edward didn't. Or to touch his own cock when he was being mated ...

A sudden spark of sound from directly under him flicked Edward out of his idle thoughts. It was a faint crackle, like the sound of a transmutation, gone almost as soon as it had registered. There was no reason for either of his brothers to be transmuting in the _den,_ though. There was nothing in there _to_ transmute, no danger to fend off, just the bare rock upon which they slept, and whatever pieces of pelt may have been shed in the process of sleeping or mating.

He swung half-off the rock, hanging upside-down over the side, but the sound did not repeat and the den was otherwise quiet and too dark to see into from that angle. He remained that way for a few heartbeats, braid brushing against his ear, but there was nothing. He was just about to swing back up atop the rock and go back to dozing when a new sound came to him. A slightly wet sound, like moist skin against skin.

Were they mating each other in there? Edward frowned. That didn't seem right. In fact, that was downright wrong somehow. Grabbing the edge of the rock, he slid down off it, turning himself upright again in the process, and crouched down to peer inside.

The wet sound continued, and now that he didn't have his blood in his ears from hanging upside down, it really didn't much sound like mating. And now he could also hear them talking softly to each other; the tones were completely normal, nothing like the tones they took when they mated him.

"There's Nii-san," said one of them.

"Nii-san, come look!"

Look at what? Edward went down on his knees at the entrance to the den, and with the light at his back now he could see that there was something ... _squirming_ in there, way in the back with Alphonse and Alphonse. The two were kneeling opposite each other, their pelts mostly off and piled up between them; there was something _alive_ there, wriggling around on the heaped-up pelts. Alphonse had something in his arms, held close as he wiped it off with the corner of his shed shirt.

"What the hell ..." said Edward. There was an odd smell in the den now. Not a bad smell ... it was vaguely sour, with an undertone like the bitter scent of alchemy, but it set off no alarms as Edward cautiously sniffed it. "What is that?"

"Come see," said Alphonse.

"Don't hurt them," said the other Alphonse.

The thing in Alphonse's arms made a _sound,_ like the creaking of a damaged tree branch but much softer. Edward startled, but Alphonse calmly put it down again into the middle of the squirming pile, and picked up another to tenderly wipe down. Whatever the things were, they were covered in something that Alphonse apparently wanted off of them.

Creeping forward, Edward asked again, "What is that?" He extended one hand to touch one; it was warm under his fingers. "Are they prey?"

"No!" Alphonse smacked him hard on the hand. "Don't touch them if you're going to try to eat them!"

"I wasn't!" Edward held his stinging hand close to his chest, and gave Alphonse a glare. What else could they be? They were warm and they moved, and he hadn't done any real hunting in ages. He had to admit, though, that they didn't smell like any prey animal he'd ever killed.

With his eyes adjusting to the dimness of the den, he could see them better now: wriggling, red morsels of flesh with small caps of fur. There was another of those _sounds,_ that soft creaking noise of unhappiness, and Alphonse reached to pick up the one that had made the noise. There were a lot of them. Edward couldn't tell how many exactly, because they were all piled on top of each other, but he could see at least three crowns of fur in addition to the ones his brothers were holding.

"Shhhh, it's okay." Alphonse stroked the thing and smiled at it, cradling it close, and then said, "Nii-san, they're not food. They're kittens."

The other Alphonse held out the one he'd been wiping off, and said, "See? Your kittens."

It dangled from Alphonse's hand, where he held it by the nape, tiny mouth working open and closed, tiny fists waving uncertainly. Edward peered at it suspiciously, and, not wanting another struck hand, kept his hands to himself. The kitten's eyes were closed, and its hind legs were curled up; all its limbs were chubby and plush, and its skin a dark pink.

Alphonse gestured with the kitten. "Take him, Nii-san," he said with a smile. "Your kitten."

Slowly, Edward extended his hands, together and cupped, as if he were about to scoop up some water, and Alphonse carefully placed the kitten's rump into his hands. It wiggled once Alphonse released it, almost squirming out of Edward's grip; hastily, he fell backward and pulled the kitten close to his chest to keep it from dropping. The kitten squeaked, and Edward felt its tiny fingers in his shirt.

He stole a glance at his brothers, who were both watching him, one with a delighted smile, the other with an expression of skeptical wariness. Then he looked back down at the kitten, which had in the meantime found a way to clutch onto the lapel of his coat.

"Don't try to eat him," Alphonse warned.

"I wasn't going to," said Edward, annoyed. The kitten that had been handed to him was furred in dusky bronze. He carefully ran his fingertips over the fine cap of fur; the kitten nodded its head unsteadily, and started up a purr which was surprisingly loud for such a tiny creature. "If these are my kittens, why isn't their fur gold?"

Both Alphonses gave him an odd look, then looked at each other and shook their heads before going back to tending the pile of kittens.

"What?" asked Edward.

Alphonse reached toward him and said, "Give that one back."

"No!" Edward scooted back toward the entrance to the den, holding his kitten closely. It purred more loudly, and maintained a death grip on his coat lapel. When Alphonse started to come around the pile of kittens toward him, Edward crawled right out of the den entirely, sitting under the rock and flipping the non-clutched lapel of his coat over the naked kitten to protect it. He glared at Alphonse, who eventually shrugged and apparently decided not to chase him any farther.

"Be careful," said Alphonse. "Don't hurt him."

"I'm not going to hurt him! I'm not going to eat him!" Edward made a face at his brother, and then, when it seemed he was safe from having the kitten taken away from him, he settled back down with his back against one of the stone supports.

Purring loudly, the kitten nuzzled his chest and tried to burrow deeper under his coat. It was fascinating, so tiny ... Edward carefully stroked its head, and it mewed and wormed around.

Gently, he tried to lift it up so he could look at it, but it refused to let go of his coat until he pinched the scruff of its neck; then it released his coat and allowed him to raise it up over his head.

The kitten mewed again as Edward looked it over. Its fur was a fine, fuzzy cap over its head and the back of its neck, and it shook its miniature fists imperiously. The sounds it made were bizarre, like nothing Edward had ever heard before, but they were clearly unhappy, so he brought it back down again, leaning far back so he could let the kitten rest against his chest. He felt the kitten's tiny fingers grab onto his shirt again, and he jostled the kitten a little higher, until its head was nestled into the crook of his neck, its rump supported by his hand. The scent off the kitten's skin was strange, and soothing. The little creature was very warm against his throat.

Slowly, Edward stroked the kitten down its back, listening to the loud purr and inexplicably delighted by the sound. He wasn't supposed to be having kittens yet. At a minimum, he ought to at least have a territory of his own, so he could feed them until they were big enough to find their own brothers; he wasn't sure what he was supposed to do with kittens that arrived before he'd claimed a space for himself.

On the other hand, he _did_ have this enclosure, and the zookeepers fed them. Surely they'd provide enough for the kittens, too. Edward petted the kitten, then stroked his cheek against its fur ... it was so small and helpless. Its smallness and helplessness made him want to hold it close and keep it safe. He smiled a little, and closed his eyes.

"You going to bring that one back?" called Alphonse from inside the den.

Edward thought about it. "No," he said.


End file.
